United three points clear in race
LONDON, England -- Manchester United opened a three-point gap at the top of the English Premiership after recording a 2-1 victory at Bolton on Wednesday.
Nearest rivals Arsenal were held 1-1 at Everton while 10-man Liverpool triumphed 1-0 at Chelsea with a goal by Bruno Cheyrou.
Paul Scholes made it three goals in two matches as he handed United the lead in the 24th minute while Ruud van Nistelrooy headed the second shortly before half-time.
Former French international Youri Djorkaeff grabbed a consolation goal for a slightly unlucky Bolton side a minute from time with a header.
Roy Keane made sure the pressure was maintained on the Bolton goal early in the second-half as he thundered in a shot from outside the box only for Finnish keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to tip it round the post.
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce decided to throw on his most recent foreign acquisition loan signing Javier Moreno - hired on the advice of Sir Alex Ferguson's son who is an agent - in the 64th minute.
However, all they had to show for their endeavours was the late Djorkaeff effort from inside the six yard box.
Bolton had the run of play for the first 24 minutes and were unlucky not to be 2-0 up by the time Scholes scored as first Per Frandsen and then Jay Jay Okocha unleashed fierce shots only to see Tim Howard save them both brilliantly.
Scholes goal came when he fired home from inside the six-yard box -- and it did the trick of settling the champions and delivering a huge blow to Bolton.
United seized the match by the scruff of the neck 15 minutes later when van Nistelrooy headed home Ryan Giggs's cross to leave Bolton rueing their luck.
